U.S. patent number 5,311,424 [Application Number 07/723,286] was granted by the patent office on 1994-05-10 for method and system for product configuration definition and tracking.
This patent grant is currently assigned to International Business Machines Corporation. Invention is credited to Sujan K. Mukherjee, James L. Ryan, James R. Wason.
United States Patent |
5,311,424 |
Mukherjee , et al. |
May 10, 1994 |
Method and system for product configuration definition and
tracking
Abstract
A method and system for the definition and tracking of multiple
unique product configurations for configuration management in which
customer contracted views of the product are defined by applying
temporary changes to the base product configuration. A product
serial number effectivity is assigned to each unique customer
specified product configuration and to the base product
configuration in order to maintain multiple time-oriented versions
of the product, thus supporting simultaneously both
customer-specified and design-specified engineering changes to the
base product. A product configuration identifier provides
non-redundant data storage for each unique product configuration
and can refer to noncontiguous ranges of product serial numbers.
The configuration entry identifier in a product configuration table
is used to peg detail component requirements to serially numbered
products in order to correlate the product configurations as built
with the product configuration as designed. A component position
identifier provides traceability of temporary changes made to the
base product that result from customer contract specifications.
Inventors: |
Mukherjee; Sujan K. (Roswell,
GA), Ryan; James L. (Smyrna, GA), Wason; James R.
(Tuxedo, NY) |
Assignee: |
International Business Machines
Corporation (Armonk, NY)
|
Family
ID: |
24905610 |
Appl.
No.: |
07/723,286 |
Filed: |
June 28, 1991 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/29; 705/30;
700/105; 700/107; 700/115 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q
10/087 (20130101); G06Q 40/12 (20131203); G06Q
10/0875 (20130101); G06Q 10/06 (20130101); Y02P
90/02 (20151101); Y02P 90/265 (20151101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06Q
10/00 (20060101); G06F 015/22 (); G06F
015/46 () |
Field of
Search: |
;364/401,468,479 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
Friedman & Associates, Inc., "The HFA-ATO System" Deerfield,
Ill. 60015; Nov. 1988. .
XL/Data Comp. Inc., "Guide to Success for Make-to-Order Companies";
pp. 1-21. .
"Self-Describing File Vintage for Hardware System Design Files" by
W. C. Stetler, IBM TDB, vol. 32, No. 7, Dec. 1989, pp.
327-332..
|
Primary Examiner: Envall, Jr.; Roy N.
Assistant Examiner: Chung; Xuong
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Timar; John J. Bruzzone; Lauren
C.
Claims
Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to
secure by letters patent is as follows:
1. In a data processing system having a plurality of communicating
nodes, at least one of said communicating nodes capable of
communicating engineering change requests reflecting changes to
previously stored plurality of product configurations and at least
one of said nodes capable of receiving information on at least one
of said product configurations, and at least one central node
capable of receiving from and sending to said plurality of
communicating nodes, a method for enabling storing said information
with previously stored product configurations in a manner enabling
defining and tracking said changed stored product configurations,
said method comprising:
constructing a base product view at said central node, said base
product view having a plurality of standard component features and
a plurality of optional component features, each of said base
product views defining one of a plurality of product
configurations, and storing said base product view in a bill of
material;
assigning a first product configuration identifier to said base
product view and tagging each of said plurality of standard and
optional component features stored in said bill of material with
said first product configuration identifier;
receiving at said central node an engineering change request from a
first communication node, said engineering change request
associated with a specific customer product configuration, and
generating an engineering change notice associated with said
engineering change request, that modifies said base product view,
and assigning a second product configuration identifier to said
specific customer product configuration;
constructing a customer product view wherein new components are
added and replaced components are removed from said base product
view in accordance with said engineering change notice and tagging
said new and replaced components with said second product
configuration identifier;
tracking said customer product view by means of said second product
configuration identifier and said first product configuration
identifier; and
generating a tailored bill of material based on said tracked
customer product view;
transmitting to a second communicating node said tailored bill of
materials.
2. The method of claim 1 including the step of generating a product
configuration table for correlating each product configuration
identifier with a contract identifier and a range of serial
numbers.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein each entry in said product
configuration table contains a configuration entry identifier, a
product configuration identifier, a product identifier, serial
start and end numbers, a customer identifier, and a contract
identifier.
4. The method of claim 1 including the step of generating an
engineering change affected item table for correlating an
engineering change identifier with each component affected by the
engineering change and with the second product configuration
identifier and assigning a design sequence number to the
engineering change notice that corresponds to said engineering
change identifier.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein each entry in said engineering
change affected item table contains an engineering change
identifier, an affected component identifier, a product
configuration identifier, a design sequence number, a reference
product configuration identifier and corresponding sequence number,
an effectivity type code, a product identifier, and a serial start
number.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein said tailored bill of materials is
comprised of a bill of material table and said step of constructing
a customer product view includes generating a plurality of entries
in said bill of material table for correlating each component
removed from, and each component added to, the base product view
with the second product configuration identifier and tagging each
entry with a corresponding component position identifier.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein each entry in said bill of
material that represents part of the customer product view contains
the second product identifier, an insert sequence number, and a
component position identifier.
8. A system for the definition and tracking of complex product
configuration designs in a computer-based information processing
system, said system comprising:
a plurality of communicating nodes, at least one of said
communicating nodes capable of communicating engineering change
requests reflecting changes to previously stored plurality of
product configurations and at least one of said nodes capable of
receiving information on at least one of said product
configurations;
storage means for storing a plurality of files including an
engineering change notices file, a master item, file, an
engineering change affected item file, an engineering bill of
material, and a product configuration table;
means for receiving from a first communication node information on
a product configuration and
means for constructing a base product view, said base product view
including a plurality of standard component features and a
plurality of optional component features, each of said base product
views defining one of a plurality of product configurations, and
storing said base product view in said bill of material on said
non-volatile data storage device;
means for assigning a first product configuration identifier to
said base product view and tagging each of said plurality of
standard and optional component features stored in said bill of
material with said first product configuration identifier;
means for receiving from one of said communication nodes an
engineering change request, said engineering change request
associated with a specific customer product configuration,
means of generating an engineering change notice associated with
said engineering change request, that modifies said base product
view, and assigning a second product configuration identifier to
said specific customer product configuration;
means of constructing a customer product view wherein new
components are added and replaced components are removed from said
base product view in accordance with said engineering change notice
and tagging said new and replaced components with said second
product configuration identifier;
means for tracking said customer product view by means of said
second product configuration identifier and said first product
configuration identifier;
means for generating a tailored bill of material based on said
tracked customer product view; and
means for transmitting to one of said plurality of communicating
node said tailored bill of materials.
9. The system of claim 8 wherein said means for constructing a
customer product view includes means for correlating each item
affected by an engineering change based on a customer product
specification with corresponding component entries in said customer
product view of the bill of material, said means for correlating
resulting in a plurality of correlated items and said means for
tracking said customer product view uses said plurality of
correlated items in said tracking.
10. The system of claim 9 wherein said means for constructing a
customer product view includes means for determining if each item
and the corresponding components affected by an engineering change
represent permanent changes to the bill of material reflecting a
change to a base product view or temporary changes to the bill of
material reflecting said customer product view, each of said items
and components having an identification as temporary or permanent
and said means for tracking said customer product view uses said
identification in said tracking.
Description
DESCRIPTION
Cross-Reference to Related Application
The present application is related to co-pending patent application
"Method and System for Version Control of Engineering Changes,"
Ser. No. 602,600, filed Oct. 24, 1990 and having a common
assignee.
Background of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to computer-based
systems for product configuration management in the manufacture of
complex products and, more particularly, to the definition and
tracking of product configurations as they are designed by the
design engineering function within an enterprise.
Product configuration management involves modifying a standard or
base product to meet specific customer requirements. Since
different customers have different requirements, the base product
design is modified in different ways to meet these diverse
requirements. Keeping track of the multiplicity of product
configurations as designed and their effects on the base product is
a complex task which heretofore has not been fully automated. It is
a common practice to track custom configured products by assigning
a serial number to each unit of product which is then assigned to a
customer contract. This describes a product serial number
effectivity for the product configuration. Tracking of product
configurations by batch numbers and lot numbers are similar to
tracking of product configurations by serial numbers.
The complexity of implementing serial number effectivity arises
from the fact that there are different types of engineering changes
which affect the product configuration concurrently. These can
include changes to the base product and changes ordered by
customers. Changes to the base product are permanent changes that
improve the base product in some way, such as by reducing cost. The
latest changes to the base product are incorporated in all custom
built configurations unless specified otherwise. Version control
techniques are used to keep track of all changes to the base
product.
Changes ordered by customers are considered as temporary changes to
the base product that are designed for specific customers. Although
changes made to the base product for one customer are not
applicable to other customers, all custom-ordered configurations
get the latest permanent improvement made to the base product
unless a back level base product is specifically requested.
Automatic tracking of product configurations as built has not been
the problem that automatic tracking of product configurations as
designed has been. As built product configurations have been
tracked by pegging parts requirements to customer contracts. In
other words, the recording of the actual parts that were used to
build a specific product for a specific customer contract
constitutes the as built configuration of the product.
Most commercially available software products for tracking
engineering changes that modify product configurations were
developed based on effective date of the new configuration (i.e.,
date effectivity). Examples are IBM Corporation's Communications
Oriented Production Information and Control System (COPICS) and
Manufacturing Accounting and Production Information Control System
(MAPICS) family of products. The version control of product
configurations by effective date is suitable for tracking
improvements or other permanent changes to mass produced standard
products, but this technique is unsuitable for tracking custom
built product configurations.
Recently, some commercially available software products have been
modified to track as built product configurations by serial number
(i.e., serial number effectivity). An example is IBM Corporation's
COPICS Defense product. These modified software products replace
from/to dates with from/to serial numbers and use "pegged
requirements" to associate detail component requirements with
serially numbered end products. The pegging technique provides an
upward traceability from components to assemblies to the end
product requirement stated in the master production schedule.
However, none of the commercially available products can
distinguish between permanent changes made to the base product, and
temporary changes made to the base product to satisfy specific
customer requirements.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of this invention to provide a method and system
for maintaining multiple versions of a base product configuration
using serial number effectivity.
It is another object of this invention to provide a method and
system for maintaining multiple versions of a customer specified
product configuration using serial number effectivity.
It is another object of this invention to provide a method and
system for correlating the as designed product configuration with
the as built product configuration.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method for
the non-redundant data storage of each unique product configuration
that allows for noncontiguous ranges of product serial numbers.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a method
for distinguishing between permanent changes to a base product and
temporary changes made to satisfy customer requirements.
These and other objects and advantages are accomplished by the
present invention in which a product configuration definition
process assigns a product configuration identifier to each unique
product configuration including the base product and all custom
configured products. The configuration identifier serves as a view
identifier for concurrent tracking of multiple views of the product
configuration as designed. It also serves as a peg for both the
material requirements planning and inventory management processes
for tracking the product configurations as built. A generic or base
product is defined that includes all possible optional features. A
unique product is then defined by a specific view of the generic
product that includes any appropriate option features and any
specially designed components, and that excludes base components
that were replaced by the specially designed components. For every
unique product configuration, multiple ranges of serial numbers can
be assigned.
A better appreciation of these and other advantages and features of
the present invention, as well as the manner in which the present
invention realizes them, will be gained from the following detailed
description and accompanying drawings of the preferred embodiment,
and from the claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram implementation of this invention
which includes the computer system components utilized for product
configuration definition and tracking.
FIG. 2 illustrates the business processes that are related to
product configuration definition and tracking.
FIG. 3 illustrates a sample coding scheme for effectivity types
used in the present invention.
FIG. 4 illustrates an Engineering Change Notice that defines a
generic product configuration of a standard assembly and several
optional assemblies and initially defines the bill of material for
the standard assembly.
FIG. 5 illustrates an Engineering Change Notice that modifies
temporarily the standard assembly in the base product in accordance
with customer contract specifications.
FIG. 6 illustrates the technique of pegging detail component
requirements to customer contracts in accordance with the present
invention.
FIG. 7 illustrates an Engineering Change Notice that modifies
permanently the standard assembly in the base product.
FIG. 8 illustrates an Engineering Change Notice that temporarily
modifies the standard assembly in the revised base product in
accordance with customer contract specifications.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
A block diagram implementation of the computer system components of
the preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIG. 1.
As shown in this figure, the Product Configuration Definition and
Tracking system 10 includes a Product Configuration Definition
process 35 which operates on computer processor 30. Design
engineers and other groups of the users at terminal device 18
interact through processor 30 with relational data base files
stored on non-volatile, direct access storage device (DASD) 40 to
store and retrieve product configuration information. Permanently
stored on DASD 40 are Engineering Change Notices data 12, Master
Item data 14, Engineering Change Affected Item data 16, Engineering
Bill of Material data 20, and Product Configuration data 25.
Each product is defined as an item of type "product" in Master Item
data 14. The assemblies (items) which are used to configure a
product are stored as components in Engineering Bill of Material
data 20. Engineering Change Notices data 12 authorize creation of
each unique product configuration including both the base product
configurations and custom built product configurations. The items
used in the product configurations are treated as end items. Any
modifications to an end item or lower level assembly or component
that are generated by an engineering change are recorded in the
Engineering Change Affected Item data 16. A product configuration
identifier field is stored in Engineering Bill of Material data 20.
The product configuration identifier serves to uniquely define each
product configuration. Product Configuration data 25 stores the
relationship between product configurations and customer
contracts.
A block diagram identifying the business processes related to
configuration management is shown in FIG. 2. The engineering change
release function 50 is integrated with the material requirements
planning (MRP) and inventory management functions 60. Design
engineering creates engineering change notices 12 for each new or
changed product configuration. The product configurations as
designed consisting of both engineering item and bill of material
data 54 are defined in process 56 and stored in the database. The
engineering change release process 58 releases the change
information to the manufacturing function which can restructure the
item and bill of material data as indicated by process 62. Based on
customer orders and forecast demand 64, the material requirements
planning and inventory management processes 66 prepare planned
orders 68 which are then used for tracking configurations as built
70. When necessary, the configurations as built 70 can be compared
with the configurations as designed 56.
The product configuration identifier assigned to each unique
product configuration serves several distinct purposes. First, it
serves as a view identifier to enable concurrent tracking of
multiple "as designed" views of the product configurations. This
invention relies on a versioning technique that allows definition
of multiple views of Engineering Bills of Material 20, with a new
view being created for each engineering change for an assembly.
Each customer contracted configuration is defined as a new view of
the Bill of Material 20 and includes all contracted modifications
to a base product that are applicable to a specific configuration.
Any modification to the base product in one view is not visible in
another view.
Version control is further described in a co-pending, commonly
assigned patent application entitled, "Method and System for
Version Control of Engineering Changes," Ser. No. 602,600, filed on
Oct. 24, 1990, the disclosure of which in its entirety is
incorporated herein by reference.
The product configuration identifier also serves as a peg
identifier for tracking the product configurations as built in the
material requirements planning (MRP) and inventory management
processes. The use of peg identifiers makes the product
configurations as designed compatible with current implementation
techniques for tracking product configurations as built. This
results in an integrated system of product configuration management
from design engineering through manufacturing and shipment of
custom built products, and makes the differences between product
configurations as designed and as built easier to detect.
Finally, the product configuration identifier enables multiple
ranges of product serial numbers to be assigned to a single unique
product configuration.
FIG. 3 illustrates a list of effectivity type codes that can be
used to identify different types of effectivities for different
items within a specific view of a product configuration. The sample
effectivity type code is a two character code. Time oriented
effectivity can be further qualified by phase-in and phase-out
planning codes which are not illustrated.
The two broad categories of effectivity are time-oriented and
product-oriented. Time-oriented effectivity can be specified by
start and end dates, by item serial, batch or lot numbers, and by
planned phase-in/phase-out dates. Product-oriented effectivity
applies to specific configurations of end products which are tied
to customer projects or contracts.
Different types of effectivity can be specified for different
items. For example, a product-oriented effectivity can be specified
for high level assemblies and a time-oriented effectivity can be
specified for lower level assemblies and components, particularly
for those which are used in more than one product.
The final assembly configuration for a product can include optional
sales features that can be ordered by any customer. A generic
product thus consists of a standard or base product, and all
possible optional sales features which can be selected by the
customer. A generic product is defined to avoid a proliferation of
unique products that can be built by using different combinations
of the optional sales features.
A unique product is define by a specific view of the generic
product. The specific view includes any optional sales features
ordered by a customer and any specially designed assemblies and
components to satisfy a customer contract. Any base assemblies or
components that are replaced by the specially designed assemblies
and components are excluded from the specific view.
FIG. 4 illustrates an example of defining a specific product based
on a generic product. An Engineering Change Notice identified as
ECA authorizes the design of a base product Pl with assigned serial
numbers 001 through 999. This range is arbitrary and can be as high
as needed. Product P1 is defined as a generic product with sales
feature codes to identify a standard component A and optional
components B, C and D. The configuration identifier "Base1" is
assigned to the base product P1 as indicated by reference numeral
402 in Product Configuration table 25.
The initial entry in the EC Affected Item table 16 relates
engineering change ECA 404 to assembly item A 406 with effectivity
type code SS 408 (i.e., serial number effectivity) for the "Base1"
configuration. A design sequence number of "8001" is assigned to
this version of affected item A as indicated by reference numeral
410. Bill of Material 20 correlates the product/assembly identifier
412 with the available components identifier 414 and the sales
feature code 416. This table indicates that product P1 consists of
standard component A and optional components B, C and D. Bill of
Material table 20 also indicates that assembly A contains
components E and F in quantities two and one respectively. Bill of
Material 20 contains the configuration identifier "Base1" which
serves as a view identifier for concurrent tracking of multiple as
designed views of the bill of material. The component items E and F
are given an insert sequence number of "8001" indicated by
reference numerals 418,420 respectively corresponding to the design
sequence number of 8001 for Affected Item A in EC Affected Item
table 16. If the insert sequence number 422 is known, it is a
simple matter to find the inserting EC identifier 424. The
component planning code "Add" indicated by reference numerals
426,428 is used to indicate that components E and F are to be added
to the configuration. The component position identifiers 430 are
assigned to sequence the components for display or printing.
Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 5, customer ABC orders 5 units of
product P1 with the standard assembly A and no optional components.
Furthermore, component F is replaced with components Y and Z.
Engineering change notice ECB authorizes the design modification
for product P1 and assigns serial numbers 121 through 125
corresponding to the contract ABC-1. The assigned configuration
identifier is "Cust1". These changes are reflected in the row
corresponding to configuration entry identifier "20" indicated by
reference numeral 502 in Product Configuration table 25.
The EC Affected Item table 16 in FIG. 5 shows that a unique
configuration identifier "Cust1" indicated by reference numeral 504
is assigned as a new view identifier for product P1. A design
sequence number of "8001" as indicated by reference numeral 500 is
assigned to this new view of affected item A resulting from
engineering change ECB since the change to the base product is
temporary. A reference to the base engineering change ECA is
established by adding "Base 1" and "8001" to the "Based on
Configuration" column and "Based on Sequence" number column. These
are indicated by reference numerals 506 and 508, respectively. The
effectivity type code assigned is "CS" (reference numeral 510)
which indicates that effectivity is based on serial number by
customer contract.
The product bill of material 20 shows two different views of the
product configuration, i.e., "Base1" and "Cust1". The "component
position identifier" found in the last column of product Bill of
Material Table 20 is assigned to sequence the top level components
or assemblies within each product for display or printing. In the
"Cust1" view in the Bill of Material Table 20, components F, Y and
Z are inserted with a sequence number of "8001" as indicated by
reference numerals 512, 514, and 516, respectively. Component
planning code "Remove" is assigned to component F since it is to be
temporarily removed from the base configuration for this view of
assembly A. Component planning code "Add" is assigned to components
Y and Z (reference numerals 518, 520) to indicate that they are to
be added to the configuration. Both components Y and Z are assigned
a component position identifier of "2" which is the same component
position identifier as that for component F. This indicates that
components Y and Z temporarily replace component F. This
implementation thus provides traceability of temporary changes made
to the base product.
FIG. 6 illustrates the technique of pegging detail component
requirements to serially numbered products. The configuration entry
identifier in Product Configuration table 25 serves as a peg
identifier for tracking the product configurations as built by the
material requirements planning and inventory management functions.
It makes the definition of product configurations as designed
compatible with the implementation of product configurations as
built resulting in an integrated system of product configuration
management. This makes it straight forward to detect the
differences between product configurations as designed and as
built.
Referring to the Product Configuration table 25 and Bill of
Material 20 of FIG. 6, it can be observed that assembly A for
product P1, serial numbers 118-120, uses components E and F. For
product P1, serial numbers 121-125, component F is replaced by
components Y and Z. Bill of Material 20 contains references to the
product configurations involved indicated by 602, 604. For example,
component E is used for both "Base1" and "Cust1" configurations.
The planned order requirement for component E is computed by
extending the planned orders for assembly A (reference numeral 606)
and the quantity of E found in the bill of material for assembly A
(reference numeral 608). Detailed connections between component E
requirements and product P1 serial numbers are established by
pointing to the appropriate entries in Product Configuration table
25. Gross requirements for assembly A are indicated by table 27.
The requirements for assembly A in product P1 based on each
configuration are reflected in table 29. By relating Bill of
Material 20 to assembly A requirements 29 for product P1, the gross
requirements for component E are derived as shown in table 31.
Finally, the requirements for component E in assembly A of product
P1 based on the separate configurations are indicated in table
33.
Any subsequent reassignment of serial numbers, including
noncontiguous ranges of serial numbers for the "Cust1"
configuration will have no effect on the bill of material.
In FIG. 7, engineering change notice for engineering change ECC
modifies the bill of material for base product P1 having serial
numbers 131 through 999. Base component F is replaced permanently
by component G. This is a time oriented effectivity in which
engineering change ECC 702 supersedes engineering change ECA for
the same configuration. The ECC version of assembly A for the
"Base1" configuration is assigned a design sequence number of
"8002" as indicated by reference numeral 704 in EC Affected Item
table 16. Component F is extracted from the "Base1" configuration
by the design sequence number "8002" shown by the extract sequence
number entry 706 for component F in bill of material table 20.
Component G is inserted into the "Base1" configuration by the same
design sequence number shown by the insert sequence number entry
for component G (reference numeral 708) in Bill of Material table
20.
Notice that the "Base1" component E remains unextracted by
engineering change ECC and therefore is applicable to design
sequence number 8002. This versioning of the "Base1" configuration
is independent of the earlier removal of component F for the
"Cust1" configuration corresponding to engineering change ECB. This
example illustrates the capability provided by this invention of
assigning product serial number effectivity to the base product
configuration, keeping the base configuration distinct from all
customer specified changes, and maintaining multiple time oriented
versions of the base product to support continued application of
engineering changes to the base product.
In FIG. 8, engineering change ECD repeats an order for the existing
"Cust1" configuration for customer ABC for product P1 serial
numbers 145-146. The order or contract identifier is ABC-2 as shown
by reference numeral 802 in Product Configuration table 25. EC
Affected Item table 16 is updated by engineering change ECD to
reflect that the "Cust1" view is now based on product configuration
"Base1" having associated design sequence number "8002" as
indicated by reference numeral 804. The product P1 effective serial
number is identified as 145 as indicated by reference numeral 806.
The "Cust1" view of assembly A still includes components, E, Y and
Z. Components Y and Z were substituted for component F in the
"Cust1" view of assembly A in product P1 effected by engineering
change ECB. Since intervening engineering change ECC represents a
permanent change to the base product resulting in replacement of
component F by component G, the bill of material table 20 has to be
updated to reflect the changes to assembly A in the base product in
the "Cust1" view. Thus the Bill of Material 20 for assembly A
("Cust1" view) needs to be modified to temporarily remove base
component G rather that base component F which has been permanently
replaced in the base product. This represents a time-oriented
effectivity wherein engineering change ECD for the "Cust1"
configuration supersedes engineering change ECB for the same
configuration. The engineering change ECD version of assembly A for
the "Cust1" configuration is assigned a design sequence "8002",
indicated by reference number 804. Component F in the "Cust1"
configuration is extracted by design sequence number 8002
(reference numeral 808) and component G is inserted in the "Cust1"
configuration by the same design sequence number. However, since
component G is temporarily removed from product P1 by the "Cust1"
configuration, the corresponding planning code for component G is
"Remove" (reference numeral 812). Extracting component F made it
inapplicable at the engineering change ECD level. Components Y and
Z remain unextracted from the "Cust1" configuration; and,
therefore, they are applicable to the design sequence number "8002"
corresponding to engineering change ECD. The system and method of
this invention thus provides the ability to track both permanent
and temporary changes to the base product and generate a tailored
bill of material for product manufacture that conforms to customer
specifications.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with
respect to the particular embodiment thereof, it will be understood
by those skilled in the act that various change in form and details
may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of
the invention.
* * * * *